IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 319 

Recognizing Bayard Rustin for his lifelong leadership in the civil rights, 

labor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movements and for his exemplary dedication to realizing true equality and 

freedom in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2013 

Mr. LEWIS (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. 

SCHWARTZ, Mr. WATT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. 

RANGEL, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. MOORE, 

Ms. HAHN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SCOTT

of Virginia, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. WILSON of Florida, 

Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. LOWENTHAL) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing Bayard Rustin for his lifelong leadership in the 

civil rights, labor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 

transgender (LGBT) rights movements and for his exemplary dedication to realizing true equality and freedom 

in the United States. 

Whereas Bayard Rustin was born March 17, 1912, in West 

Chester, Pennsylvania; 


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•HRES 319 IH 

Whereas Bayard Rustin combined the pacifism of his Quaker 

religion with nonviolent movements of Mahatma Gandhi; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin was inspired by James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B. Du Bois, among others, to protest Jim 

Crow laws in the West Chester community; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin attended City College in New York, 

where he was active in the movement to defend and free 

the Scottsboro Boys in 1936; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin was a principal leader in planning a 

March on Washington in June 1941 to protest discrimination in the armed forces and defense sector, in response to which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

preemptively issued an Executive order ending segregation in the defense industries; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin worked in the State of California to 

protect the property rights of Japanese-Americans imprisoned in internment camps as a result of World War 

II; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin, while imprisoned in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary for conscientious objection to World 

War II, organized a protest against segregated seating in 

the prison dining hall; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin was an early leader of the Congress 

on Racial Equality (CORE), and participated in a CORE 

initiative to integrate interstate buses by challenging 

race-based seating requirements on buses in Virginia, 

Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin advised Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

on nonviolent tactics during the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; 


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•HRES 319 IH 

Whereas Bayard Rustin, along with Dr. King, led the initial 

organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to coordinate the Black faith community in political activism; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin served as chief organizer for the 

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 

1963, the landmark event credited with the passages of 

the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights 

Act; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin, as the co-founder of the A. Philip 

Randolph Institute, worked tirelessly to achieve equality 

for African-Americans in the labor movement; 

Whereas Bayard Rustin championed the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement throughout his career, working as a human rights advocate and 

testifying for New York State’s Gay Rights Bill; and 

Whereas Bayard Rustin died August 24, 1987, a leader in 

civil rights and democracy in the United States and an 

inspiration to generations of activists after him: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog2 nizes Bayard Rustin for his lifelong leadership in the civil 

3 rights, labor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 

4 (LGBT) rights movements and for his exemplary dedica5 tion to realizing true equality and freedom in the United 

6 States. 

Æ 


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